Pokemon: Leaf Green
by Achamo
Summary: Based off of the game somewhat. Chapter 9 up: Will Leaf fight off the Rockets... or will they defeat her? And what's happened to Lass?
1. VS Cleffa

**1: vs Cleffa**

"Clef! Clef-Clef-CLEFFA!"

"Cleffa! For heaven's sake, shut up!"

"...clef..."

It was night in Viridian City, and the moon was full...

Living hell for Leaf.

"Cle... Clef-fa! Clef-fa! Clef-"

"WHAT did I just tell you?!"

The brown-haired girl's normally hyperactive Cleffa just got worse on nights like this... to darken Leaf's mood, her shopping was nowhere near finished. Four bags of groceries were in her hands, a yellow shoulder bag purchased for the upcoming school year inside one and various foodstuffs in the other. Cleffa bounced around her in circles.

Above her, a Pokeball fell...

fell...

fell...

and hit Leaf on her plastic party hat, bought on a whim at the supermarket.

"What the heck..."

She trailed off when she saw just what had hit her.

"A Pokeball? Whichever butterfinger dropped this'll probably come looking for it..."

She looked up at the darkening sky that it had come from to find a steep cliff, many miles high.

"...then again, it wouldn't hurt to look at it while I wait." She put down the bags in one hand carefully, not wanting to spill eggs all over the place, picked up the Pokeball, and grinned- the boys in her class always battled with their Rattatas and Pidgeys, but she'd always beaten them with her trusty Cleffa. A new Pokemon to add to her roster- if there was a Pokemon in here- would tick them off very much indeed! She'd give the trainer five minutes, but until then...

She dropped the rest of her bags and struck a pose that she'd seen some caped guy on TV use. He'd defeated his opponent without breaking a sweat- maybe this was the new 'in' pose of the year? Good to remember to use on those dumb boys at school when they challenged her, anyway. Getting more into the act, she planted one foot behind her and prepared to throw the Pokeball, in a perfect imitation...

...and stopped mid-throw. What was in here, anyway? That guy had yelled out his pokemon's name- Dragonair, she was sure- and then thrown it whilst yelling, 'GO!' Leaf hadn't a clue as to what was in here... but that was what improvisation was for!

"Whatsit, GO!" She threw the Pokeball-

"Bulba?" A small green pokemon with a bulb on its back materialized in a flash of white light. The pokemon looked up at Leaf's strange position- she still hadn't finished throwing- (what had he done after this, anyway?) and stood there staring like a deer in headlights. Cleffa poked it once, seemed to shrug, and continued bouncing.

Leaf finished, taking a more relaxed position. "What?" she asked, noticing the small pokemon's stare. She didn't have any more time to comment on this, though...

"Little girls like you shouldn't be out this late..." Leaf whirled to see a man, his Horsea at his side. The man was dressed entirely in black, except for a red R. A red R... wait, wasn't that the sign of-

"T-Team Rocket..." Team Rocket was an urban myth; a gang that stole pokemon and various other items that tickled their fancy- children, even! Leaf's mother had never been fond of her battling, and had tried to use the criminals as encouragement to stop ('If you continue like this, Team Rocket will kidnap you as walk home and turn you into a pokemon!' 'Yes, Mom...'). Leaf had never listened- but now, her mother's prediction could be coming true!

---

Welcome to Leaf Green. It's based off of the game, though there will be plenty of minor differences with the plot. There is another story that was supposed to accompany it, Fire Red, but I'm having major problems with the second chapter (and I've got the beginnings of a third and fourth typed up, waiting for a middle and end). Reviews are encouraged (after all, the only way to tell me what I need to improve is by that blue button!) but no flames, please. Thanks!


	2. VS Horsea

**2: vs Horsea**

"Wh-What do you want?" Leaf's face paled slightly as she took a step backward.

"What do you think? Give me that Bulbasaur!" The Rocket Grunt grinned, signaling his Horsea. It was obviously gathering energy for something... but what? Leaf's expertise was limited to Pokemon found in the nearby forest and a few she'd seen on a field trip to a gym in Pewter City- and this was definitely not one of those! She quickly thought of an attack.

"Uh... Bulbasaur, Tackle!" Luckily, Bulbasaur knew the attack, and it charged toward Horsea, knocking it to the floor just in time for an enormous burst of light to fly harmlessly into the air. It got up, barely weakened by the attack.

_This won't work... What if that light hits my Pokemon? I've got to think of a plan..._ If he wanted the Bulbasaur, then she'd have to protect it! "Cleffa, Pound! Make sure that you protect Bulbasaur!" Cleffa raced toward Horsea and slammed its fist into the aquatic Pokemon. It flew backwards a little, but got back up.

"Horsea, Smokescreen!" Horsea filled the area with smoke, blinding everyone. Bulbasaur looked back at its new mistress, realizing that she really didn't know anything about the art of special attack, and did it anyway, extending two vines and using them to find Horsea. Soon, the attack connected, and the other vine joined the first, holding it in place while the Seed Pokemon hit it repeatedly with Razor Leaf. With each hit, Horsea squealed, but soon, its cries died down.

When the smoke cleared, all Leaf saw was that Bulbasaur was holding a knocked out Horsea up with two vines extending from the base of its bud. Having seen his Pokemon completely defeated in such a short time, the Grunt was in a state of disbelief.

"How could Vine Whip do that much damage? Horsea, return!" Despite his defeat, he grinned at the girl. "Hmph... You're pretty good, but that doesn't mean you can beat our boss." He pulled out a strange ball and threw it down, causing smoke to fill the area. When it dispersed, the Grunt was gone...

Leaf sighed and looked up at the sky. Startled by how late it had gotten, she ran towards home at top speed, knowing that her mother would only get angrier as it got later...

Sure enough, a worried and angry Yvonne White met her daughter at the door of her spacious house in downtown Viridian. The Whites were well-off, and Yvonne had never really understood why Leaf wanted to go out into the world for something akin to her brother's old bottlecap collection. Besides, considering the statistics (about forty children became trainers per year, but only ten percent of those forty made it to greatness. Sixty percent quit, and ended up academically behind, unable to have much of a future without years more of hard work, and thirty... never returned, probably killed somewhere in their travels) it was much better for Leaf to stay home, where nothing could get her! At least, that was the idea... but not everything can go according to plan...

---

REWRITE! Changed 'pokemon' to 'Pokemon'. Also, I've lost any interest in the mother thing. It's gone, and this chapter is much shorter than it was before. Expect another rewrite, probably adding more description to various things to fatten it up. Oh, and it's Yvonne's brother, not Leaf's.


	3. VS Clefairy

**vs Clefairy**

"No!"

"But, Mom, if I left, I'd be famous... well... sometime!"

"What if that doesn't happen? NO. Period." No matter how much Leaf begged her mother, she refused to let the girl go on a pokemon journey... Maybe it really was pointless to ask. Sighing, she went up a spiral staircase, emerging on the second floor, and walked into her room, switching on a five-headed floor lamp with green and blue shades in the corner. Cleffa and Bulbasaur waited for her; she only kept them in their Pokeballs when she was in school (but Cleffa had always 'accidentally' come out when someone else's pokemon did) or in a building that didn't allow pokemon. She flopped down onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Soon, though, her gaze turned to her new pokemon instead. Bulbasaur seemed to be shyer than Cleffa, and sometimes the Starshape Pokemon's antics scared it a bit. Hm... What if a pokemon's personality affected the way it battled? Maybe she was just thinking too much. Yeah, that was it!

She sighed. In three days, school was starting, and there was no way that she'd spend those final days of freedom sitting at home! Leaf got up. "Bulbasaur, Cleffa, how about we go out somewhere?" The pokemon both nodded, Cleffa decided to sit on Leaf's head, and the three went downstairs. She looked over at her mom. "I'm going out, okay?"

Her mom looked up from the newspaper. "Be careful, honey!" Leaf blew a kiss to her, and she left. Viridian had very crowded streets, but was still a great place to live- there were movie theaters, a huge shopping mall that allowed pokemon and had everything one could ever wish for, a Pokemon Gym (none of the boys in her class had ever won there, but that really didn't say much), an arcade, a candy store, a trick shop... even a shop with gourmet pokemon food! However, her steps didn't bring her to any of these places...

She was at the location of her battle yesterday. A tree had fallen down, and some of it seemed to sparkle... strange. She walked up to it, and noticed that the sparkles were caused by little pieces of machinery, the largest of which looked like a directional controller found on handheld games. The controller was attached to a black-and-red base with tiny wires coming out of one side. Most of it was circular, but the side with the wires was square... maybe it attached to something? Leaf pictured a large mecha controlled by the tiny part... maybe not. The other sparkles were similar. Some of them were red, black, or just pieces that went on the inside (these looked very complex), and some were shards of glass. These also came in different shades, though only two this time: clear and blue. While the clear ones were flat, the blue ones seemed circular, and had some wires stuck to them... she wouldn't pick the glass up, that was for sure.

She sat down next to the tree and began to pluck a few of the red and black pieces out... then stopped, noticing a rustle coming from the nearby bushes. After the Team Rocket members last night, she didn't want to take any chances...

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip to check the bushes!" The Seed Pokemon's two vines plunged into the bushes, and after a thorough search were retracted, having found nothing. Leaf sighed. It was just needless paranoia...

"Surprise."

Maybe not. Leaf whirled around to see the same Rocket she'd beaten last night with backup. The brown-haired girl stood up. If it was a battle they wanted, a battle they'd get... The familiar Rocket released his Horsea while the other three released their Ekans, Grimer, and Zubat.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip on Horsea! Cleffa, Pound on any of the others!" Bulbasaur picked up Horsea and slammed it into the ground repeatedly as the Dragon Pokemon did the old squeal-annoyingly-and-do-nothing routine. While Leaf wasn't looking, though, it shot a few Razor Leaves at Horsea to finish up the process of sending it into dreamland.

The Rockets called out various poison attacks, and while Cleffa was getting battered by them, Bulbasaur hardly noticed them. Noticing this, Leaf called out an attack.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip all of them!" Bulbasaur used one vine to knock Zubat out of the sky and another to deal with Ekans and Grimer, but the pokemon easily recovered. Apparently, that wasn't what made Bulbasaur resistant to those pokemon...

"Cleffa, Pound on Grimer! Bulbasaur, Tackle on Ekans!" More poison attacks came from the other side. Bulbasaur was doing well, but Cleffa was starting to get tired. Its trump card wouldn't work here, either- it seemed similar to Bulbasaur's attacks- and Leaf was starting to get worried. After getting hit with a Sludge, it fell down- and began to glow strangely. Leaf gasped. Was this what it was like when Pokemon died? The glowing Pokemon became larger. It grew small wings, and its stubby arms became slightly longer, with three-fingered hands. The glow died down, and the Pokemon got up and grinned. "Clefairy!" it said, running toward Grimer and slapping it repeatedly. _That must be Doubleslap!_ its mistress thought happily to herself. Grimer soon fainted, and Ekans was soon finished off too. Now, all that was left was Zubat...

"Bulbasaur, pull Zubat down with your vines! Cleffa- no, Clefairy, Doubleslap!" Bulbasaur's vines tied the Bat Pokemon's wings to its back, slamming it into the ground where Clefairy finished it off. The Grunt sighed and recalled it.

"So, you think you're good, having beaten us twice?" He smirked. "In a week, come to the Viridian Gym. Then you'll _really_ get to see the power of Team Rocket..." He threw down a small black ball, and the area was filled with smoke. When it cleared, he was gone.

Clefairy looked up at Leaf and smiled happily, hopping on one foot to the other. Soon, it was bouncing around as usual- it had evolved, but Clefairy was the same old Cleffa inside...

"Clefair-y! Clefair-y!"

"Ugh..."

---

Corrected three days to one week, because now that I have Fire Red up, I can't speed up Leaf Green.

Well, Leaf _has_ had Cleffa for as long as she can remember, so it's more than ready to evolve... besides, Cleffa technically doesn't exist yet (that is, it hasn't been recognized by Professor Oak's Pokedex yet) so if Leaf ran into Fire with Cleffa, there would be some problems. The trump card I'm talking about is Magical Leaf, which only Cleffa can learn... I was looking for some other attack for Cleffa to use besides Pound in my new FR/LG guide, and I found that Magical Leaf was the last level-up move it learns. You find out something new every day!


	4. VS Rhyhorn

To Dannichu, Reviewer of the Chapter: You're the first person to notice the quirks! hands you a plate of nachos (or cookies, if you don't feel like nachos...) Just about every Pokemon will have one of these (Bulba's (shy) was pointed out for the reader, but none of the others will be) in this and related stories (except Charmander... I can't think of a good one for it, but then again, FR's turned out very people-centric thus far). Not much of those will be in this chapter, though... this is one of the more serious ones...

---

**VS Rhyhorn**

It had been a week since Leaf's battle with the Rocket Grunts... and now, it was time to face whatever challenge they had planned for her. Not that she was worried, of course- she thought her two encounters with them had told her all she needed to know. They were simply weak, annoying, and used way too many Poison-types. A few hard hits, and they would be down and out, and she could go home and do her homework...

Oh, how wrong she was.

She stood in front of the Gym, a large, run-down building. Huge, circular holes were in many of the windows, as well as one of the walls, and whichever windows hadn't been broken were cracked... it gave her the creeps, that was for sure. A signpost in front said Viridian City Gym and nothing else.

She took a deep breath and went inside...

...and a huge, rocky Pokemon stared her down, grinning at its new prey. Leaf screamed and it charged. Just when it was about to use its large horn to smash her into a bloody pulp, a burst of white light quickly recalled it. Laughter came from the depths of the Gym, but she couldn't see the person it was coming from.

A man's voice. "Release your Pokemon." Leaf sent out Clefairy. "_Both_ of your Pokemon." Bulbasaur followed. "Tell me- what do you see Team Rocket as?"

Leaf considered her options- _Maybe this is someone against Team Rocket...-_ and smirked. "An annoyance. They just like to creep people out." More laughter. Giving this guy sass had definitely been the wrong answer.

"Then you misunderstand what those agents were for... they have a lot to learn... as do you." Very much the wrong answer. "Your opponent will be Rhyhorn-" the same pokemon that had been at the door reappeared and roared- "and you may use both of your Pokemon against it... not that it'll make any difference as to whether or not you'll win. Begin now."

Beginning to panic, Leaf yelled, "Clefairy, Magical Leaf! Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Leaves of various colors- mostly yellow and red- formed in the air around Clefairy, and it pointed them toward Rhyhorn. The Spikes Pokemon was only annoyed by them and Bulbasaur's two vines, which were hitting Rhyhorn repeatedly without any effect. It charged at Bulbasaur and had knocked it out before it could dodge. Clefairy kept using Magical Leaf after Magical Leaf, but it had no effect on the charging pokemon... and soon Clefairy was unconcious too. Leaf recalled them both as Rhyhorn pounced upon what would have been her pokemon, but was now just empty air. It turned for her, slobber coming from its mouth... but it was again recalled, leaving a puddle of saliva on the floor. Scared out of her wits, Leaf ran for the door as the man's laughter pounded in her ears, running for home-

She reached it after a few minutes of running, letting herself in and locking the door, shutting away the outside world. Things were normal here... There was her mom, sitting at the table. She was probably really caught up in bills to not notice her... but this was _important._ Leaf walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Mom?" No response. She shook her shoulder and almost fainted.

The blank face of a stuffed dummy stared back at her, its blonde wig falling off. A note was pinned to its chest...

_Leaf, _

_Your mother_ _will be fine... for now. She tells me you wish to go on a journey... why don't you? Collect the seven badges of Kanto other than the Green Badge and return to the Viridian Gym. I doubt you have been much of a challenge for me_

This was before her battle... while she was at school, they'd done this. Why hadn't she come home first, why?

_and I'm not quite sure if you ever will be, however... the police will be warned about this, and they'll be coming soon... they'll want the Viridian Gym Leader there, of course..._

He'd be there, whoever he was, and chances were he would frame her. She wasn't safe here...

_I think you had better get packing. _

What choice was there? There was more to Team Rocket than Leaf had thought, and there was no way that she could beat them now. She went to her room and dumped the books that she had put in her yellow bag out. Having never gone camping, she was putting in various things such as money, her favorite blanket, pillow, and Pikachu plushie, and the Potion she had gotten as a souvenir from the Pewter Gym that ranged from useful to completely useless. Her next stop was the kitchen downstairs. Only a few fruit snacks made it into her bag before she heard sirens, and she dashed out the door and away.

It was the journey she had always wanted... but she had never thought it would be like this...

---

REWRITE! Gets rid of the same thing as the VS Horsea one. Most of the original review is below...

Personally, I don't really like this chapter as much as some of the other TR-related chapters I have planned... I just can't do horror stories well. That, and I was also unsure of how to end it, so that took up some time (you'll see... personally, I think it's just out of place in this one). I also have no idea what the English names of the Kanto (or Johto, for that matter) badges are, so I'm using the Japanese names (Grey Badge, Blue Badge, Orange Badge, etc.) for now, as you might have noticed. Don't be afraid to review!


	5. VS Caterpie and Metapod

Today's chapter reviewer, surfingpikachu05: You really liked it? That last chapter was pretty much the tone of some of Fire Red (it's taking a while, I know... it might be a long time until that's updated) and a certain later portion of this story. There'll be more angsty stuff later, don't worry. For now...

**VS Caterpie and Metapod**

Leaf walked down the Viridian street that would take her out of town with mixed feelings. Here she was, setting off on the journey she'd always wanted... but now she really was leaving, and all she felt was guilt...

"Oof!" While lost in thought, she'd bumped into some old guy drinking a mocha. Making sure it wasn't spilling, he set it down and then...

"You must be a trainer!" Leaf noticed with slight concern that he was almost finished with his (rather large) drink. She tried to sidestep him, but it was no use as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Well, then, do I have the gadget for you! It's a Teachy TV!" He shoved a heavy, portable TV into her arms, and she fell down from the thing's weight. He seemed completely unfazed, bending over to talk to her. "You press that button there and it helps you with battling stuff! No need to thank me for it!" With that, he grabbed his mocha and set off, singing _Aratanaru Chikai _off-key as he went. Leaf got up slowly, dragging the Teachy TV up with her.

"You're not welcome..."

Leaf made it to Route Two, made sure that nobody was looking, and promptly dropped the TV Tutor in the grass, accidentally beaning a Caterpie on the head. Noticing that she had a Pokeball, she shrugged and captured the Worm Pokemon without much of a struggle, putting it with her other Pokemon.

After some thought- it had been at least thirty minutes since the fight, they had to be concious by now- she released Bulbasaur and Clefairy. Sure enough, they were awake... but on further examination, weren't quite ready for battle. Viridian had a Pokemon Center, but there was the chance that the Gym Leader from before would be around... and who knew what he would do when he saw her? She would have to press on and hope that they became healthier as she went. Sighing, she recalled them and walked toward the guardhouse that seperated Route Two from Viridian Forest.

---

The first thing Leaf noticed when she entered the guardhouse was the fact that there was no guard; there was a sign that notified her that he would be back in five minutes. The next was a tiny Pokemon that slightly resembled a Pikachu, except that it was smaller and its ears were much larger in comparison to its body than a Pikachu's. It stared up at Leaf curiously, the red circles on its cheeks sparking with electricity...

"Peach!" The Pokemon looked over at the brown-haired girl who had called its name. She scooped it up in her arms, lovingly scolding it. "I told you not to run off, and look what you did! I was worried sick about you... but running off and trying to Thunderbolt people?! I oughta- YEOWCH!" The Pokemon had given its trainer a small shock, slightly charring her blue skirt (which looked exactly like Leaf's pink one, except for the color) and white blouse. When she recovered, she finally noticed Leaf. "Oh, I'm sorry! My name's Lacielle."

Leaf blinked. Trying not to sound rude, she said, "Uh... what kind of-"

"-Name is Lacielle?" The girl in question laughed. "Don't worry, I get that a lot. I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me... Everyone calls me Lass, though," she said, grinning.

Leaf smiled back. "My name's Leaf. Nice to meet you!" Looking back down at Peach- she had never heard of a Pokemon like that before- she asked, "So... what kind of Pokemon is that?"

"It's a Pichu! I found it in the Viridian Forest a few weeks ago. Not many people even know they exist, it seems... but it's kinda free-spirited, if you know what I mean. It obeys my commands in battle, though, and that's all I can ask for." The (slightly one-sided) conversation soon turned to other things, and a few minutes later, Lass got back on track, continuing, "Anyway... you're going through the forest too, right?" A nod from Leaf. "Well then," she said, just as cheerful as always, "why don't we go together? It can't hurt..." Another nod from Leaf. Lass looked back at something over Leaf's shoulder. She then told the other girl, "You go on ahead. Don't worry- I know this place pretty well..." A giggle. "I think."

Leaf couldn't help feeling slightly overwhelmed by Lass's chattering, but, hey, she seemed to know what she was talking about. "Um... okay..."

Lass, busy looking over Leaf's shoulder, snapped back to attention at the other girl's words. "Right! Hurry up now, ya don't have all day! Go! Go! Go!"

Leaf walked out of the guardhouse and into Viridian Forest. She wasn't two steps away when a loud explosion was heard from inside. Something told her that it was better Lass than herself...

"Uh... hi." For the second time that day, her thoughts were interrupted. This was caused by a boy about her age, wearing a red baseball cap. A breeze rustled his brown hair and red-and-white vest, from which the sleeves of a black T-shirt protruded. He was kneeling on one blue jean-clad knee, searching. On his feet were strange, expensive-looking shoes. His face was smiling at her in a typical lost-new-trainer way (tons of them had asked her for directions before), but his amber eyes were distressed. "Have you seen a Metapod or a Pikachu around here? I've been looking for a while, but all I can find are Weedle and Kakuna."

Leaf looked down at him quizzically. "You can find Metapod everywhere. As for Pikachu, just give it a little time, and one'll turn up..."

Some of the distress traveled to his face. "I have to get them today! It's really, _really_ important!"

"I'll help! It's okay!" Leaf said reassuringly. The boy's smile reappeared, this time traveling up to his eyes. Leaf began, "Well, Metapod is green, right?" This was getting off to a bad start... Quickly, she added, "And it usually sticks to trees. So, all we have to do is search the trees in here," she said, tapping on one nearby for reference, "and we should have a Metapod!" A few minutes of searching, and...

"Finally!" The boy had found a Metapod on a tree, and he quickly sent out a Rattata. "Super Fang!" Rattata sank its sharp teeth into Metapod, and it dropped off the tree, severely injured. The boy tossed a Super Ball at it, and the Cocoon Pokemon didn't even struggle as it was captured. The boy pocketed it. "Now, all we need is the Pikachu." He took out a small, corked vial filled with pink powder. Noticing Leaf behind him, he explained, "It's a Sweet Scent. Just like the attack, except stronger... if this doesn't bring out a Pikachu, nothing will." He uncorked it, and a strong, pleasant smell began to fill the area.

"Whoa!" Leaf was shocked for good reason- what had to be every wild Pokemon in the forest was coming in their direction! She saw a black-and-yellow ear among the sea of bugs, and released Bulbasaur. Thankfully, it was back to full health, and plucked Pikachu out of the crowd with its Vine Whip. The boy seemed more interested in Bulbasaur than Pikachu now, though. He quickly caught Pikachu, then pocketed the Super Ball containing it.

"Thanks for your help... but, where'd you get Oa- that Bulbasaur?"

"I know this sounds kind of crazy, but... it fell off a cliff when I was coming home from the grocery store."

He gasped. "Then that's-" He was interrupted by Lass's reappearance. As she cheerfully kicked bugs left and right to clear a path, she said, "Hey there, Leaf! Looks like you've gotten yourself a boyfriend!" As Leaf blushed, the other girl continued, "Wow, we're almost to the end of the forest! You sure did walk fast! Now, let's get on out of here!" With that, she walked toward the guardhouse at the end of the forest. Leaf turned around to say goodbye to the boy...

He was gone. Realizing that Lass was almost out of the forest, Leaf ran to catch up to her. Another long conversation began, and soon Leaf forgot about the boy entirely...

---

Whew, this chapter's finally finished! I was having a lot of trouble with the first paragraph, and that held the whole thing up. As you might have noticed, I'm now putting the --- both between different places (instead of having people be in one place in one paragraph and then having them magically be somewhere else next one) and between the chapter and the author talk at the end of the chapter.

On Lass, our heroine's new traveling companion, there's a lot more to her than meets the eye... if you don't like her, don't worry, she won't stay forever. Oh, and those who have read the chapter of the other story that I have up (second chapter's almost done, seriously!) will recognize the boy in Viridian Forest.


	6. VS Onix

**VS Onix**

The night of Lass and Leaf's arrival at the Pewter City Pokemon Center...

"Trash... waste of space... Geez, Leaf, have you _ever_ gotten out of the city before?"

A shake of the aforementioned's head served as an answer, and Lass sighed. After learning that Leaf was new to traveling, the other girl had decided to show her some traveling tips, which included what to pack in bags.

"See, you're supposed to organize things, so they're easy to find. Take this Potion, for example. It should probably go in an outside pocket, like..." She found a moderately large pocket. "This one! The Antidotes and Awakenings and other stuff like that go there too. Big things should go in the middle, and Pokeballs in another outside pocket." After this organization, there was much more room in Leaf's bag, and Lass moved on to another topic (or four), which soon segued to...

"So, why are you traveling, anyway?" The question had come out of nowhere, and Leaf paused a bit before answering.

"I'm collecting the Gym Badges." A pause from the other side was followed by laughter.

"You think you can get all the Badges? Some people have trained for years and have been unable to get the whole set! The Leaders aren't your average trainers- they may specialize in one type, but the Pokemon they have are usually super-strong. However..." She grinned, and motioned for Leaf to come closer. "Much as he's loathe to admit it, the Leader here, Brock, is probably the weakest of the lot," she said, whispering. "He uses Rock-types, so if you have the right Pokemon, beating him'll be a cinch! For example, your Bulbasaur is a Grass-type, right?" Leaf nodded in reply. "So, it probably knows Vine Whip and maybe Razor Leaf, both of which are great against Rock Pokemon."

"All right... but, why are you whispering?"

"See that kid?" Lass motioned toward a little boy with a Sandshrew sitting at the table next to them dramatically, yet subtly. "Look at his sleeve."

Leaf gasped. "That's the Grey Badge!"

"Mm-hm. That kid is Brock's Gym Trainer. If he hears us saying that Brock's weak, he'll really get ticked off... or, that could be a different Gym Trainer than the one I'm thinking of. Anyway..." She yawned. "I'm going to bed. You should too, with that Gym Battle coming up tomorrow!" With that, the two trainers decided to get some sleep...

---

The next morning, Leaf and her Pokemon were in front of the intimidating stone building that was Pewter City Gym, being subjected to Lass's long, long pep talk. As their mistress listened, slightly nervous, Clefairy bounced around, excited, while Bulbasaur decided to introduce itself to Caterpie. The Worm Pokemon was looking around in awe, having never seen a city before. Bulbasaur tapped it on the head, and it looked at the Seed Pokemon in shock for a few seconds before curling up and passing out on the ground. The Grass-type gasped. If Leaf saw Caterpie...

_It was a beautiful day at the large building. Bulbasaur's master was happily working on the odd machine that he'd always had for as long as she could remember, and Bulbasaur's usual playmates were elsewhere, being taken care of by the girl with brown hair. Having nothing to do, Bulbasaur was playing tag with a Rattata that usually snuck in and a Caterpie that was kept around the lab. A Weedle was sitting on a table, sleeping. Rattata raced toward her, and she ran off as fast as she could, not even noticing the table until she crashed into it._

_"Bulbasaur! What are you doing?" Her master had set the machine down, and was now looking angrily at her. Rattata had scampered off once the table had collapsed, and Caterpie was looking at Weedle with wide eyes. The master picked Weedle up, and Bulbasaur noticed that it was curled up. He winced. "It's dead..." _

_The brown-haired girl came in with her Jigglypuff then, and Bulbasaur had been sent with her to clean after a severe scolding. She never forgot that day..._

"So, anyway, that's all there is to it!" Lass finally finished. Leaf smiled at her blankly (half of it had gone completely over her head) and turned to her Pokemon. Bulbasaur had a huge, goofy grin on its face that screamed something wrong had happened, and it was patting Caterpie on the back with a vine, who was suspiciously curled up, balancing on the feeler on the top of its head and the tip of its tail. It suddenly woke up and looked happily at Bulbasaur, and the Seed Pokemon stared at it in disbelief. Clefairy had ignored the drama taking place to its left entirely, and soon bounced onto Leaf's head, hugging her hat to stay on.

Leaf sighed. "Well, here goes..." She pushed the doors open and walked inside. After her eyes had become adjusted to the dim lighting, she noticed that, like the outside of the building, it had a stone motif, with its rock walls and path. Sand surrounded the path, and at the end of it was a large slab of granite with one raised pillar at its right, which a person that had to be the Gym Leader stood atop. Wondering where Lass was, she nudged the door, which didn't budge. _So, they only want one person at a time... Probably to prevent coaching._ She took a few steps forward and...

"Hold it right there!" She'd been too busy looking at the decor to notice the eight-year-old with a Sandshrew standing at the left fork in the path. He rushed up to her and boasted, "You're lightyears from facing Brock! I'll be more than enough for you!" Leaf nudged Caterpie forward with her foot, despite its protests, while Sandshrew hopped in front of its trainer.

"Caterpie, Tackle!" The Worm Pokemon ran as fast as it could with its suction-cup feet and leapt a few centimeters forward, slamming into Sandshrew right between its eyes. The little mouse squealed angrily as its trainer watched in shock, completely forgetting that his Pokemon needed an order.

Leaf grinned. "Another Tackle!" Caterpie once again launched itself forward, hitting Sandshrew's soft belly. The Mouse Pokemon glared up at its master while it was down, and the boy suddenly realized that his Pokemon was getting clobbered by a weak little bug. The aforementioned bug slammed into Sandshrew again and it closed its eyes, either unable to battle or unwilling and faking it. The boy, obviously upset, recalled it.

"Oh, and by the way," Leaf said once the trainer had forked over the customary money, "don't lightyears measure distance?" The boy pouted, not wanting to admit that he was wrong, and shuffled back to his spot, leaving Leaf free to face the Gym Leader without any further delay...

Caterpie turned its head upward, and silk began to spew from its mouth as it began glowing. When both the silk and the glow had stopped, a Metapod stood in Caterpie's place- and suddenly toppled over, landing face first on the ground. Leaf was surprised at its fast evolution, but knew that it wasn't much good for battling Rock-types and recalled it. She walked up to the Leader, who looked down at her.

"I am Brock of the Pewter Gym! I battle with Pokemon who have rock-hard strength, defense, and determination!" He jumped down from his pillar, landing right in front of a slightly startled Leaf. "The best Pokemon in those categories are, of course, Rock-types!" He withdrew a Pokeball from his brown jacket and called out a Geodude. The small, rocky Pokemon was released in a burst of light, and it cracked its knuckles and growled.

Leaf ran to the other side of the granite battlefield. "Bulbasaur, you're up!" The Seed Pokemon hopped forward, ready for battle.

Brock made the first command. "Geodude, Rock Throw!" The Rock Pokemon separated into tiny pieces that slammed into Bulbasaur from all directions, and it wailed in pain as the rocks reformed into Geodude, completely unfazed by what it had just done.

Leaf gasped. "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Her Pokemon shook any effects off and slammed both of its vines into Geodude at the same time. The attack slammed into Geodude, leaving huge dents in the Rock Pokemon- two from the actual attack, and one from slamming into the wall, where it fell down and didn't recover. Brock recalled it, seeming to be completely unsurprised at his Pokemon's defeat.

"Fine... but how will you do against this? Onix!" The Gym shook as the pillar unearthed itself, revealing it to be an enormous snake made entirely out of rocks. The horn on its head scraped the ceiling as it reared up and roared. "Onix, Bind!" The huge Pokemon plunged downward and curled itself around Bulbasaur, squeezing the tiny Pokemon hard as it struggled.

"Razor Leaf, Bulbasaur!" Onix relaxed its grip on Bulbasaur after getting hit with five or six sharp leaves, allowing the Seed Pokemon to jump free. However, the attacks were starting to take their toll- Bulbasaur was panting from exhaustion. Leaf doubted that it would be able to dodge another attack...

"Rock Throw!" The huge rocks that made up Onix separated and slammed into Bulbasaur one by one. By the end of the attack, the tiny Pokemon was unconcious. Leaf recalled it silently, upset about losing it before Onix became tired. If Clefairy wasn't able to weaken it enough, there wasn't much hope...

"Clefairy, you're up! Magical Leaf!" Shimmering leaves in fall colors appeared around Clefairy, and it pointed them toward Onix. They hit the Rock Snake Pokemon hard, eroding more of its energy.

Brock looked up at his Pokemon, assessing the damage done. Apparently deciding that it wasn't enough to worry about, he ordered, "Rock Throw!"

"Clefairy, dodge it!" Clefairy had always been a nimble Pokemon, and this talent was coming in handy as it bounded from spot to spot, dodging every rock flying at it. Brock growled.

"Rock Tomb!" Onix pulled up a huge chunk of granite with its tail and hurled it toward Clefairy. The Fairy Pokemon didn't leap out of the way fast enough, and its leg was caught underneath the rock. At its master's command, Onix went in for the final blow-

"Clefairy! Magical Leaf Onix in the face!" The leaves flew into Onix's eyes, and it roared in pain before charging- at air. The blinded Pokemon thrashed dangerously, completely out of Brock's control, before slamming into the wall with a loud crash that shook the Gym and knocked it out. Brock returned it to its Pokeball and sighed. He took something out of his pocket and gave it to Leaf. It was a shiny grey octagon made out of stone. The back was made of metal, and there were nearly invisible hooks to securely attach it to whatever its owner wanted.

"The Grey Badge. It lets you use Flash anytime. It's yours, along with the TM39, Rock Tomb." The TM was a tiny cube about the size of the Badge with the number 39 on it. This too was given to Leaf. "That was a great battle. I have no doubt that you'll do well in the Gyms ahead."

Leaf smiled. "Really? Thanks!" After saying goodbye to Brock, Leaf left the Gym, ready for some peace and quiet after the battle... and bumped right into Lass and her congratulations speech, even longer than the first one. However, this one allowed the white-and-red-hatted girl to get some 'passionate quotes from the Champion' in as they made their way to the Pokemon Center to heal Leaf's Pokemon before setting off in the direction of Mount Moon...

---

Happy late Halloween! This was going to come out on Halloween, but Stream 5 was up for downloading, so I ended up using all the time I had left that night watching it. Yesterday was busy... that and I couldn't think of what to do with the portion of Bulbasaur vs Onix that I had left. And today, the evaluator (person who comes around this time every year and sees if I've been learning anything) came, so I got the day off. Before she came, I finished everything up to Clefairy getting trapped under Rock Tomb, and afterwards I polished it off and looked it over. There are big things planned for Leaf and Lass in the upcoming (and better planned- no big delay!) chapters, so watch out for them!

If it wasn't clear, the longish italicized part (_It was..._ to_ that day_...) is Bulby's flashback. Name the places and humans and stuff and win a Horsea figure, and name the Rattata and get the entire evolutionary line... but if you're hungry and want a cookie, I'll understand.

As for the weird way I do Rock Throw, keep in mind that: (a) Rock Tomb would have looked exactly the same if I'd actually had Onix and Geodude rip up battlefield and throw it for Rock Throw (b) Geodude is portrayed as super-weak, it would have been odd to have something strong enough to rip up hard rock (or is granite softer rock? I forget) fall in one hit (c) in case you haven't noticed, this isn't the animeverse, I can pretty much do whatever here (d) the JP name of the attack (Rock Trap) has nothing to do with throwing. There you go. Yet another long author note- yay!


	7. VS Jigglypuff

**vs Jigglypuff**

It was a lovely spring morning. Pidgeys were chirping, and the sun was shining down on Route Three, the dirt road out of Pewter City, which was currently being traveled only by Leaf. Lass had told her that she'd needed to buy something in Pewter. According to the blue-skirted girl, Leaf wouldn't be too far when she caught up... it had to be a much longer path than it seemed to be.

A little boy walked up to Leaf. "Hi! I like shorts!"

Leaf blinked. "Um... that's nice..." She walked off.

"HEY!" Leaf jumped, startled by the boy's yelling right behind her. "What do you think you're doing, walking away from a battle?" Leaf turned around and saw that the boy had sent out an Ekans. Grumbling, she sent out Metapod...

---

"What's wrong with you? You're not wearing shorts!"

Seven battles later, Leaf was growing more and more annoyed by the little short-wearing brats. They always told her something about the great euphoria that was wearing shorts and inexplicably battled her... worst of all, there weren't any bushes large enough for her to change into the ones in her bag so they'd leave her alone. The only thing to do was to battle them... As Metapod defeated another Ekans, something inside of it began to glow. The glowing thing forced its way out of Metapod's lifeless shell and stopped shining, revealing itself to be a purple-bodied butterfly with red eyes and black and white wings.

"Wow! A Butterfree already?" Lass had finally caught up to Leaf, wearing, much to her chagrin, denim shorts. Leaf was about to say something to the other girl, but never got the chance as Lass suddenly ran off, screaming what sounded like "Jigglypuuuuuff!!" as she chased a pink Pokemon. It watched with huge eyes as Lass pounced... and jumped away just as it would've been caught, leaving Lass to land on the ground. The girl got up, dusting herself off, and turned to face Leaf, yelling, "What are you waiting for? Help me catch that Jigglypuff!"

"Uh... why don't you just use a Pokemon?" Embarrassed by Leaf's statement of the obvious, Lass released Peach from its Pokeball and began the pursuit.

As soon as she had vanished behind a few trees, a boy- the same one from Viridian Forest, actually- came out from behind the bushes right next to them. He looked at Lass's retreating figure and laughed, taking another of his Super Balls out of a pocket inside his jacket. Something told Leaf it held the Jigglypuff from before; he didn't seem to be very particular about what kinds of Pokemon he caught.

To her surprise, he released it- sure enough, it was the Balloon Pokemon- and pulled out a small, red device. There was a blue crystal on its left side, and a beam of light shot from it, scanning Jigglypuff. The light winked out, and the red thing beeped, obviously finished. The boy did something else, but Leaf couldn't tell what it was from where she was watching. Satisfied, he put his little toy in his pants pocket and dropped the Super Ball.

Just then, Lass chose to make her ill-timed reappearance, and the boy stomped on the Super Ball twice, crushing it, and fled.

"Did I miss something?" Leaf shook her head. Lass then noticed Jigglypuff staring after the boy, gasped, and threw a Pokeball without delay, capturing it. "You're mine!"

---

A few minutes later, the two trainers had reached a Pokemon Center, where, to Leaf's surprise, a middle-aged man operated the restoration machine, not a Nurse Joy. After being asked about this anomaly by Leaf, Lass answered, "Really? That's the first time I've noticed that... come to think of it, there wasn't one in Lavender Town, either." She then looked over at the television, which was currently on a news channel covering a recent Team Rocket attack on some bank, and she fell into an odd trance, ending their conversation.

As they waited, Leaf looked outside, where the massive Mount Moon loomed over the building. Her eyes traveled from the highest of its peaks to its base, where she saw a girl clad in a skintight black jumpsuit with short sleeves heading towards the huge, rocky mountain. Her skin was pale, and her strangely worn shoulder-length brown hair dull and matted, not to mention the tattered gloves worn on her hands, the only things she wore that weren't completely black. A homeless person, maybe? She walked toward the wall of the cave...

...and, to Leaf's amazement, passed right through it, simply vanishing into it like she was walking through tall grass. Halfway through, for some reason, she stopped and turned around. The reason was made clear when she amazingly picked Leaf out of the small crowd at the Pokemon Center, looking straight at her with cold, blue eyes. She then walked into the cave, never breaking eye contact until she'd vanished completely.

The man shut the machine off, and Lass nudged Leaf to get her reacquainted with reality. "Excuse me, but your Pokemon are fully healed," he said, setting a tray of Pokeballs on the counter.

Lass smiled and thanked him as she took her Pokemon, and Leaf did the same, her voice shaking after seeing the strange girl...

---

Sheesh, compared to the two other chapters I've done recently, this is really short (and boring, in my opinion)... but it serves its purpose in a way only a setup chapter can.

There's a reason for the 'only major cities have Nurse Joys' law, and... I'll probably tell you later. For now, have a nice week!


	8. VS Geodude

I had three new reviewers! Cool! Kawaii Kitsune Cub, thanks for the review... and, that's not a ghost Leaf saw. Here's a hint, she's a game character. As for what she's doing here, you'll see...

TopazSoarhire: Erm... the dropping Pokeball is from a cliff. It's pretty high up, so it would take a little time to reach Leaf. And the other stuff is pretty much explained in other posted chapters, so you probably know that by now.

Act: Thanks for the review! It's rushed for those chapters because they were written between hurricane evacuations (I live in Florida). Sometimes I'd forget what I was trying to do with the characters. And, why I said that on your review... I modeled Leaf's mom after any normal worrying mom. Pair that with the fact that Leaf's eleven, and... yeah.

**VS Geodude**

Mount Moon was a stereotypical cave: dank and creepy, with Zubats everywhere and only torches mounted on the walls to ward them off. Luckily, it was supposedly pretty short, so Lass didn't have to worry about the bad air and Leaf didn't have to worry about the distressing thought of being in the same slightly smelly cave as a 'ghost dressed like it's from _The Matrix_', as Lass had called what the other girl had seen.. but she'd seemed pretty solid for a ghost, and Leaf was still uncertain about her.

A few minutes passed, and they'd managed to get lost, making Leaf force herself to get the enigma out of her mind...

-

One hour later, Leaf and Lass had managed to get themselves on the right track, or so they thought, and find their way into a small, pitch-black cavern...

"Lass, are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Do you want the truth, or the- oh, never mind. Peach, Flash!" The cavern lit up with a blinding light emanating from the Pichu...

...awakening every Zubat on the ceiling. Screeching loudly, the bloodsucking Pokemon chased the two and their light source out of the tunnel and back into the larger area of Mount Moon. The two were still feeling lost and a bit frightened, so they went over to a portly hiker to ask for directions.

The hiker held up his hand, either telling them to stop where they were or making a lousy pose. "Oh, no, I'm not just any hiker! I am..."- he paused for a drumroll, which never came- "The Moon Stone Hiker of Mount Moon!"

"Wha..."

The hiker ignored their looks of disbelief. "Geodude, go!" The Rock Pokemon flexed its nonexistant muscles and banged its completely smooth head against the wall, causing no damage to either rocky surface.

Leaf groaned. _ There are way too many trainers like this..._ "Okay... Hiker. Bulbasaur!" She threw the Pokeball into the middle of the field, where it released Bulbasaur. It looked its opponent over and yawned. The Geodude stared at it in disbelief, not believing that anything could be stronger than it was, and continued with its muscleman poses.

"Razor Leaf!" The sharp leaves flew from Bulbasaur's bulb faster than Geodude could comprehend. It gasped as the leaves slammed into it and wordlessly fell down, unconcious, while Bulbasaur's projectiles fluttered down around it. Hiker recalled his Pokemon.

"Fine. See this ladder behind me? It leads to a lower floor. Follow the tunnel to another ladder, go down it, go to the inclined area, get out on the other side, and follow that raised part until you reach the exit." After giving the information, Hiker left in a huff. Lass and Leaf shrugged and carefully climbed down the ladder.

And two pairs of eyes watched them...

-

The journey along the tunnel was uneventful, and the two girls weren't planning on having to deal with anything on their way out of Mount Moon. However, this was not to be, as Lass hadn't gone down more than four rungs on the ladder down when she came back up as fast as she could, three Rocket Grunts trying to get up the ladder at the same time after her.

"Peach, Thunderbolt!" Newly released from its Pokeball, Lass's Pichu unleashed one hundred thousand volts of electricity on the trio of Rockets, and they fell down, unconcious. The blue-skirted girl thought for a moment. Her mind made up, she finally said, "I think you should take Peach for a little bit."

"But... why?"

"Peach is the weakest of my team, and you have more Pokemon than I do if she isn't taken into account," she explained, recalling it. "Your Pokemon can keep her safe against those nasty Team Rocket members!"

Leaf stared at her like she had just swallowed a Kakuna whole. "Since when are we going in there with Team Rocket?"

Lass sighed. "Just do it while you- I mean, we- have the nerve, okay?" She shoved the other girl down the hole first, Peach's Pokeball following Leaf in a short plummet...

...right into a sea of Rockets.

_**-**_

Well, I've looked it over many times, and... it's better, but it still isn't that good. Hurrah for a real chapter, though. I think that between this chapter and the next one, you can see a bit of a difference in writing length and quality. See you next chapter!


	9. VS Charmeleon the end?

"Hello."

"Y- You're the ghost, aren't you?"

Sharp, piercing laughter rang through the tunnel. "Ghost?" She walked over and grabbed the other girl's wrist, leading her to an area unlit by torches. "I'm very much real..."

She got scared easily... "St- Strawberry, Pineapple, Cherry, go!" A Vulpix, a Staryu, and a floating Jigglypuff came out of the girl's Pokeballs. To her attacker, she was weak, too.

The 'ghost' drew out one Pokeball. "Blaziken." The Pokemon seemed to be half-bird, half-human, with a mostly reddish-orange body, yellow near its feather-hidden feet and on its chest, and large, cream-colored feathers on its chest and on its head that resembled hair. It let out a screech that reminded its foes of a bird's call. "Earthquake." The birdlike creature shook the entire mountain, knocking Vulpix and Staryu out within seconds but not affecting Jigglypuff, which was still in the air.

The girl stared up at it with tears in her eyes, realizing what would happen. "Cherry... give Butterfree back to Leaf." As the Balloon Pokemon flew off with the stolen Pokeball tightly grasped in its stubby arms, Blaziken pinned its terrified trainer down with one clawlike hand, holding up one of its legs until it burst into flame.

"Who are you?"

"Glitch." It was the last thing Lass would ever hear.

**VS Charmeleon**

Leaf slowly picked herself up, surprised at the silence of the tunnel. As far as she could tell, there had been around fifty Team Rocket members in it...

Unfortunately, their silence was caused by their staring at her.

Suddenly, the brown-haired girl found herself facing hundreds of Poison-type Pokemon. There was only one thing she could do...

"Clefairy, Bulbasaur, Butterfr-" The Pokemon came out, all except for one, which was replaced by a confused-looking Peach. "What!" _Calm down, Leaf, _she thought to herself._ It can still fight... that Thunderbolt thing'll do the trick._ A little less surprised, she commanded, "Clefairy, Doubleslap! Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf! Peach, Thunderbolt!" The three attacks rained down on the opposing Pokemon, knocking out a few and severly injuring many others. Confidence restored, Leaf ordered another round of attacks...

Suddenly realizing that Leaf wasn't Lass, Peach turned around, pulled down her right eyelid, and stuck her tongue out as the other two Pokemon attacked, slamming the Rockets' Pokemon with fists or leaves. The two were an effective opposition, but they were getting hit as well... things weren't going as well as she'd hoped. She reached for the Pichu's Pokeball, hoping to recall it before it started pouring Thunderbolts into her instead...

An enormous tremor knocked her, Clefairy, Bulbasaur, and the Rockets off their feet and instantly took out Peach and all of the opposing Pokemon. Suddenly, there was a light at the end of both the proverbial and literal tunnels... Returning Peach to its Pokeball, she thought of a plan, calling to mind a somewhat boring lesson in school. Many Grass-types could release spores into the air, one kind of which was...

"Bulbasaur, Sleep Powder!" Leaf held her nose and mouth shut as green spores shot out of the dinosaur-like Pokemon's bulb. Rockets were soon falling asleep left and right. _It's a good thing_, she thought to herself as she ran for the exit. _Clefairy and Bulbasaur can't take much more of this..._

A mournful, wordless song serenaded her after she'd made it into what had to be the last chamber. She turned in its general direction, and found Lass's Jigglypuff floating towards her. It stopped a few feet away from her and expertly threw the Pokeball, releasing-

"Butterfree? Hey, wait a minute!" The pink deliverer sighed as Leaf put two and two together. "Lass stole it!" Jigglypuff bobbed up and down, which Leaf took to mean 'yes'. "But... why are you here? Won't Lass know you're gone?"

Jigglypuff sang a few more notes of its song, not meeting Leaf's gaze. It then bobbed up and down again and floated to a corner of the massive tunnel, where the rock had been worn down to sand. The pink Pokemon drew a stick figure wearing her hair in strange pigtails... the ghost from before. A long-haired stick figure wearing a skirt was next... Lass. Then, a larger figure with one big foot and two antennae on the front of its head joined them. A sick feeling grew in Leaf's stomach as Jigglypuff finished drawing it... its other foot connecting with the Lass figure's neck.

Leaf suddenly felt very lightheaded. "Lass... she's..."

"Hold it!" It was another Rocket. A familiar face looked up at her from underneath the beret, and Leaf stared at him with surprise- not just because of his being there, but also the Team Rocket uniform he wore. It changed everything she'd thought about him, turning him from mysterious friend to enemy in her eyes...

The amber-eyed boy didn't seem too happy to see her, either. "This," he sighed, "is a mistake, okay? I can get you out of here without any trouble, as long as you promise to leave Team Rocket alone." Leaf, meanwhile, was mentally kicking herself. _I should've known! That Rattata was too powerful for a normal trainer trying to catch a Pokemon in the Viridian Forest... and that can't be the only one he's got_. Refusing him would bring trouble, but agreeing would be a flat-out lie. And, between this conflict, there was a part of her that wanted to trust him, despite everything he'd probably done...

She made the decision. "I..." Before she could answer, a brown blur slammed into the boy's side. He fell to the ground, teeth gritted in pain, as a small, light blue turtle popped out of its brown shell.

"So, Fire, you just couldn't catch a thing and had to join the losers' club?" Another boy wearing a black shirt and purple pants stepped out from behind a large boulder, laughing. The turtle ran over to him, and Leaf decided that the boy was probably its trainer. Though it was obvious that he wasn't a Team Rocket member, Leaf was reminded more of a stereotypical one by his obvious attitude problem. He stepped over to her, flashing a handsome smile. "Don't worry... I can protect you. The name's Tsunami."

She motioned her three remaining Pokemon forward despite the fact that two were already tired, still regarding him with distaste. "I can take care of _myself,_ thank you."

He took out two more Pokeballs. "Whatever you say... Fearow! Sandshrew!" A huge brown bird with a tan beak and red, spiky feathers on top of its head crowed menacingly as it materialized in a flash of light. Its companion was a familiar face, except much tougher-looking... a yellow mouse with black, beady eyes and a white belly. The six Pokemon stared down Fire, and he responded by releasing three Pokemona Raticate, a red lizard that, in her opinion, looked pretty cool, and a pink blob.

"Butterfree, Tackle on Raticate! Clefairy, Doubleslap! Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf!" Fists and a large body flew towards the three Pokemon, but all it did was drive them back a few feet.

Tsunami sighed. "Geez, I forgot how much of a difference these things make," he muttered, pulling out a red-and-black device like the one Fire had been using. He pointed it at all of Leaf's Pokemon while commanding, "Squirtle, Water Gun on Charmeleon! Fearow, Wing Attack! Sandshrew, Scratch! Repeat as needed!" His blue Pokemon shot out a stream of water at Fire's Flame Pokemon while the other two charged toward the opposition.

"Number one: the pink thing's a Ditto," the darkly-clad boy said, turning to Leaf. "It'll either copy my strongest Pokemon or yours, so you'd better have a good idea of what would counter yours most effectively.

"Two, Clefairy and Bulbasaur aren't at full health, in case you haven't noticed, so give them a Potion soon." Leaf pulled out the one in her bag, and Tsunami looked at the lone remedy in disbelief. "You've only got one?" Leaf gave him a withered look, which he conveniently ignored. "Geez... Of your unhealthy Pokemon, Clefairy'll be best. Bulbasaur, being a Grass-type, is weak to Fire-type attacks, and that's just what Charmeleon will use." _I hate to listen to someone like him... but he does seem to know what he's doing._ Leaf sprayed the Potion onto Clefairy, and it jumped up and down to show that it was ready for battle.

Tsunami continued, "Try commanding Clefairy to use Metronome and Butterfree to use Confusion. And four... I'll get to that after the battle." They turned back to the fightsure enough, Bulbasaur was gasping for breath, not getting a chance to attack as it maneuvered around blasts of flame... but Charmeleon didn't look like it was at full health either, wincing from the hits it took from Squirtle's Water Gun. Butterfree was faring well, landing hit after hit on Raticate and flying up to dodge the Rat Pokemon's lunges, and all of Tsunami's Pokemon were doing pretty well.

Leaf took out Bulbasaur's Pokeball, thought for a moment, then replaced it. "Clefairy, Metronome on Charmeleon! Butterfree, Confusion on Raticate!" Clefairy wagged its fingers left and right, seeming to keep time to imaginary music... then clapped its hands together. The pink Pokemon slowly pointed them upwards as money began to appear in them, which was hurled at Charmeleon. The attacks coming in Bulbasaur's direction halted, and the little Pokemon laid spreadeagled on the ground, panting.

Fire, however, had had enough of his Pokemon getting beaten. He seemed a bit interested at Leaf's command of "Confusion"... "Ditto, transform into Butterfree! Charmeleon, Flamethrower on the real Butterfree!" There was no need to give a command to Raticate... it was unconcious. Fire looked at it sadly and recalled it.

Meanwhile, Charmeleon made Butterfree into a new source of light with the help of its Flamethrower. Knowing that Butterfree wasn't going to recover, Leaf recalled it, beginning to worry. Its presence was remembered on the battlefield, though not in a way that Leaf and Tsunami's Pokemon appreciated. Ditto-Butterfree had already taken Sandshrew on a fatal spin with its newly acquired Confusion attack, leaving two Pokemon on the Rocket's side and four on his rivals'.

Tsunami finally changed his attacks as well. "Fearow, Wing Attack on Butterfree! Squirtle, use Bite on Charmeleon's tail!"

This didn't seem to worry Fire much. "Charmeleon, Metal Claw, but avoid Squirtle at all costs! Ditto, stay on guard!" He didn't pay any attention to Leaf's Pokemon... and that was his mistake.

"Clefairy, Metronome! Bulbasaur... uh..." While Clefairy waved its fingers left and right again, Bulbasaur aimed its bulb at Ditto-Butterfree and shot a seed at it. Roots seemed to crawl into it, weakening the Transform Pokemon. Bulbasaur, on the other hand, seemed to get stronger, looking even better than it had when the battle had started. Clefairy was breathing strange, greenish flames at Charmeleon, who stopped for a moment. This allowed Squirtle to clamp onto its tail, hiding the flame on its tip from view.

Squirtle getting away with its attack worried Fire much more. "Charmeleon, try to shake off Squirtle! Ditto, use Confusion on Bulbasaur!" Charmeleon looked at Squirtle apologetically, then slammed it into the ground again and again, stopping only when the Pokemon's unconcious body slid off, revealing the red lizard's flame again. Tsunami recalled it in silence.

Bulbasaur wasn't doing well, either. Ditto picked it up with its Confusion attack, smashed it into the ceiling, and dropped it, letting gravity damage the Seed Pokemon for it. It struggled to its feet, getting a bit of energy from the Leech Seed still in the Butterfree copy.

"Finish Bulbasaur off! Use Flamethrower and Confusion!" Ditto-Butterfree picked up Bulbasaur, holding it still as Charmeleon gave Bulbasaur an apologetic look similar to the one it had given Squirtle and torched it into submission.

Leaf grimacedshe was down to one Pokemon already! "You did well, Bulbasaur... return."

Her opponent turned his attention to Tsunami's last Pokemon. "Charmeleon, Slash on its wings!"

Tsunami gritted his teeth for a few seconds before commanding, "Fearow, fly higher!" It was no use... Charmeleon leapt up onto Fearow's back as it ascended and sunk its claws into one of the bird's hollow bones in its wing, breaking it. The huge bird screeched in pain and toppled to the ground as its attacker leapt off, landing seconds before Charmeleon. It wasn't out of the fight yet, though...

Meanwhile, Leaf decided to go after Ditto-Butterfree. To her surprise, Clefairy was getting stronger from the parasitic seedit apparently healed whatever was on the other side of the battlefield. "Metronome!" She waited for the finishing move... and watched as the Fairy Pokemon blew nearly harmless bubbles at Ditto. The Transform Pokemon barely even flinched. Leaf groaned.

"Metronome again!" This time, a huge burst of blinding light flew out of Clefairy's mouth, turning the imitation Butterfree's body into its original state of pink glop. Though Ditto fell to the floor, Clefairy toppled over as well, gasping for breath.

Fire's remaining Pokemon had obviously finished off Fearow... Charmeleon raked its claws across Clefairy's back, knocking it out instantly. "Ditto, Transform into Bulbasaur! Sleep Powder!" Leaf picked up Clefairy and ran... but the Grunts were awake now, and they shoved her back into the cloud of green. She noticed Tsunami being dragged off by a few Rocket members with gas masks before she succumbed as well...

_Is Lass really dead? Who the heck is Glitch? Will Leaf and Tsunami be able to stand each other for long enough to escape from Mount Moon? Sleep Powder is green, right? Is Fire all that bad? How do you spell 'parasitic', anyway? I'm talking... er, writing... to myself, aren't I? Why is FF.N deleting my attempts at formatting this? The world may never know..._

_I've decided that this is a good ending point (yeah, it could be better... but I wanted to get this off my computer, where it's been sitting since February). I thought anyone who reads this would like to know what happened to Lass and who Fire was... besides, there really won't be chapters with loads of things happening until Lavender Tower, and that wouldn't have come for quite a while. I have a few chapters of this typed up, but nothing complete to connect them with this. Maybe I'll finish the connecter or I'll post another unfinished fic I've got lying around__... you'll just have to wait and see. Many thanks to all of my one-chapter reviewers for at least giving this crud a passing glance. I probably would've found some way to end it in Viridian City if I didn't know that someone was reading it... farewell?_


End file.
